Arriving in America

When I got home with Paris after our almost two year adventure together it still felt like going to the Parelli campus in Colorado was a far off dream. I had to recalibrate to life in the real world (as real as the world ever gets for me anyway) and my priority was on getting Paris settled in.

We arrived in Canterbury at 3 o’clock in the morning and Paris stepped off of the massive transporter like royalty. He was as dry as a bone and looking smart with his boots and sweat blanket. I lead him up the road to his new home, a paddock in the “back yard” of some of our friends. They already had a Fjord, a donkey and two sheep so Paris would have company during his 3 month vacation from me and would be able to live out for the three months as he was now used to doing. One look at the donkey and Paris’ eyes nearly fell out of his head. He really could not believe what he was seeing. I visited him the next day to sort out his feeds and see how he was settling in. When I saw that after a few days he was still having trouble relaxing with the donkey I decided to play some friendly game with it and had my mum leading it around whilst we followed. This didn’t work out as the donkey got worried when he was lead away from the sheep and Paris tried to attack the donkey when he got close. When they had both become a bit calmer I put Paris back in his field and hoped that time would be enough to help him gain confidence in his unusual companions.

Unfortunately we didn’t end up with so much time because Paris began chewing through the fence posts and our friends said that they could see all their fences being ruined by the time three months were over. My mum and Jane agreed that Paris could live in the arena at our yard until a corral could be made for him. We have planned a walk in/out stable for him so he has a place to go when the horses come off of the fields, as our fields cannot sustain 24 hour grazing, but where he will be less confined. I hope to build his real comfort and confidence up so that he can one day be comfortable in stables but he has so many negative associations with them and as an extrovert he struggled with the restrictions of being confined. When he arrived back at our old yard he looked completely different to how he had done on his arrival in Canterbury and it was clear that he recognised his surroundings. We put Mum’s horse, Havewe, in the arena with him and they ran around together playfully as though they were delighted to see each other again. I know that this borders on anthropomorphism but it really seemed that way. Having Paris back on our doorstep meant I could see him much easier and I put him up to three feeds a day to try to recover the weight he had lost during the journey and time in Canterbury. We went out on rides with Mum and Gemma, went to the beach, Will had a lot of fun riding him... backwards... it really has been great having Paris back home again. 

I spent a lot of my time up at the stables, but I also met up with some old friends whilst I was home, went to rehearsals with Will, to lunch with my sister and the first two weeks flew by. Then I had my interview at the US Embassy in London. I was very anxious about it because I now only had one week to get my VISA before flying out to America and I wanted to make sure I had everything possible. I spent most of Sunday printing things and gathering letters and documents ready for Monday morning and I arrived at the interview 15 minutes before my scheduled interview time. As I neared the front of the long queue I heard the Embassy worker ask the man in front of me if he had a mobile phone or laptop on him because if so they had to be deposited at the Pharmacy down the road. I then walked up the road and dropped my own ones off; annoyed that it wasn’t made clearer that this would be the case.  One into the Embassy, which was no mean task, I then waited an hour and a half to be fingerprinted and then another two hours before I had my “interview” which was a short series of questions from a woman that was bashing her keyboard and looking at her computer the whole time. She finally told me that I was done and that my VISA would probably take 5 days. I pulled a face, thinking about how short for time we were and praying that the VISA would arrive in time.

Needless to say, my stress level was rising on that last week and, as my stress rose, my ability to remain left brained faltered and I had a right brain panic. I sent a message to two star Parelli Professional Sara De Vries to come and give me a lesson as I really wanted some focus and to talk to someone who had done the Externship. My lesson was booked for the Thursday morning with me to leave on the following Monday.

After mucking out the stables and preparing the feeds I brought Paris in to get him groomed before Sara arrived. When I saw him walk my heart skipped a beat.  He was very lame on his right hind and as soon as I looked at it I could see some blood. I brought him down to the yard and tied him up so that I could inspect his leg and I found a cut about 3 inched wide and an inch deep on the back of his fetlock. It was still fresh. I called a vet and spoke to a nurse who told me how to initially clean it we both agreed I should have a vet out to it because it is a highly risky place for infection. If a horse gets an infection in a joint it can lead to the horse being put to sleep.  The vet arrived very quickly and sedated him so she could do a more thorough cleaning and inspection of the wound. She said that the cut went through a ligament and possibly into the joint behind it but the ligament was in the way and that he would need to have his joint injected to see if there were any perforations. It meant he had to go to the hospital to be checked and if he had a cut in his joint he would need to go under general anaesthetic to have the whole joint cleaned out or else there was a real risk of joint infection. Naturally I was quite upset and I called my step dad and asked if he would be able to come home and take Paris to the hospital. He said I should get my Mum to call him and they would make a plan. I messaged her to call me ASAP as I knew she was driving a bus and would not be able to answer the phone. Will called me and tried to comfort me but it was rather rubbish because telling me everything would be ok was not going to cut it at that moment.  In the end my Mum got the rest of the day off and came home and drove me and Paris to the vets where he was scanned and x-rayed and had his joint injected. He got several forms of antibiotic injections, on top of what the first vet had given him. It was good news, no ligaments, tendons or, more importantly, joint capsule were injured and there were no foreign particles in the wound, in fact it was extremely clean. They even said hit fetlock joint was the picture of health with no issues what so ever and no arthritis. This meant that whatever had been going on in January had completely healed. Maybe he will be able to do finesse after all! He had to stay in the vets for three more days so that they could inject him with antibiotics and dress his wound and then he would go home where Mum would take over his wound dressing and give him oral antibiotics. Paris was not too happy about being stuck in a stable at the vets and it was sad that the last time I saw him was in there but he’s home now and I am getting reports that he is refusing to eat his antibiotics unless they are accompanied by a grain mix, the little so and so. 

Sunday was my last full day in England and I spent it trying to keep Summer amused whilst I stressed about packing and checking in to my flights. I was very happy to have Lizzy there to spend some time with and she helped me with Summer. The three of us went and caught the last hour and half of Will’s rehearsal for his upcoming show, the HMS Pinafore. When we got home we had a delicious meal cooked by my Aunt Lou and “Gruffalo crumble” – Summer had requested Gruffalo crumble and, being the Savvy step mum I am, I told her that tinned peaches were baby gruffalos. So Aunt Lou was able to save the day by making a peach crumble for dessert (which Summer didn’t eat!).  Will and I took Summer home to her Mum and then returned so I could finish packing and stressing. Checking in online was impossible as I was travelling on a VISA rather than an ESTA. I decided to call it a night and join my loved ones around the bonfire in the garden when my Mum asked me which terminal my flight was going from. I went cold. I didn’t know and I had read every bit of that itinerary – it wasn’t on there! Fortunately all the info I needed was on the internet although I had to look through various airport and airline websites to get all the info I needed.

In the morning Will took me to the airport with plenty of time to get through security and check in. I had managed to keep my luggage down to one bag and everything went smoothly and before long I was comfortably seated on a plane watching the last Twilight film. I then watched the Hobbit, Hansel and Gretel and finally the Life of Pi. A rather odd mix of full length films which demonstrate how long that flight was!  When I arrived at Minneapolis in Minnesota, I had to go through customs and was made to sit in a waiting room whilst they went through my luggage and all of my documents. I guess it’s a good thing I only took one bag because I was released into the USA with just 15 minutes to get my bag, put it back on for the next flight, go through security and find my gate for boarding. I raced through and ended up with time to board but not to change up my Euros as I had planned. The next flight was not so comfortable and had no complimentary movies so I listened to the free radio channel as I tried to sleep. As I was now on domestic flights rather than international there was no problem going through from arrival to departure at Salt Lake City and I had half an hour to sit on my laptop before going through my gate to board. My final plane was a tiny thing, just wide enough for three people and only 9 rows. In row three, I was at the front and middle of the plane at the same time! Funnily enough though the seat was more comfortable than the previous larger plane although I did feel the urge to pay extra careful attention to the safety information! As the plane landed I could literally feel the pilot’s effort to try to keep the plane level, it was one of the more scary experiences I have had. My plane arrived 10 minutes early and as I walked into the airport I immediately saw Lynette waiting for me. She introduced me to her husband Rick, their friend Beverly and her adopted daughter Yeung. My bag arrived very quickly and I was relieved to not join the statistics of lost luggage whilst Lynette was surprised that I had travelled so light for three months. Apparently the previous externs had come with three bags each!

I squeezed into the front of their pick-up truck next to Lynette and we chatted as we made the one and a half hour journey back to the ranch. Their drive is 4 miles long and the nearest town is called Recluse, total inhabitants: 6! If I had thought the Plessis was remote it is nothing compared to the 3 Bar Ranch! I was brought to the guest house and Lynette gave me a quick tour and I picked my bedroom and was quickly asleep, shattered after my 24 hour journey.

The next morning I woke up to my alarm, which I had set in fear that I would waste half the day to jet lag. I would much rather just get into the new routine and sleep well the next night. I got up and took a deeper look at my new home. There were many things left there by the previous externs, Lynette had told me I was welcome to help myself to any of it and a few things I was relieved to find because I had been planning to buy them anyway! When I walked outside the surroundings were quite overwhelming. My house is on top of a hill across from a barn next to a paddock which then sloped down onto a grassy space cut up by red pathways leading to a large workshop and the main house on another hill. As I walked down the hill I was struck by the silence. It was far more peaceful even than the Plessis and I and the feeling I could almost be the only person left on earth! I headed for the main house and spotted Lynette at a nearby paddock throwing hay to the horses there. I joined her and followed her around as she showed me her pre-breakfast routine of feeding the two herds hay and feeding her cats. We then went into the main house and joined the others for breakfast. I was quickly taught that I should treat the place like home and help myself to food and drink as I wanted. Next we went out the horses and went through the routine of feeding them all their supplements and brushing them, checking them for ticks and handling their feet. As well as meeting my lease horse Boaz, I was charmed by a buckskin paint filly named “Princess Jasmine”, or Jazzy as I call her. 

 princess Jasmine!

 Boaz!

a truck load of hay at the big boy paddock 

I played with Boaz online and he tested me as any self respecting left brained horse would. I was a little concerned that maybe we would not get to where I wanted in time for the course but I knew it was early and a lot can develop in 2 weeks. After lunch I played with Cookie who Lynette had told me a lot about. She had told me he was RBE/LBE and he sounded a lot like Paris so I was quite shocked when I found a LBI on the end of my rope! Whilst there were some things that we got going easier than with Boaz I felt no desire to change plans for which horse to take to the externship. I needed to get to know them better. Lynette told me all she needed was three days notice to get the Coggins done in time if I changed my mind about which horse I would take. She also told me that Jazzy could be my project horse for my time there. I jumped at this chance because she is such a lovely little thing and I have never had the opportunity to play with a horse that has not yet been backed. Infact she is pretty much just halter “broke”. Lynette got her a year ago as a terrified yearling whose only experiences of humans had been being roped and eared to the ground, haltered and left to have the halter grow too tight. Poor Tigger, the other two year old had had basically the same story but his halter had actually tightened into his head so much he could not eat and was very thin when Lynette took them in. I played with Jazzy and took he around the arena and discovered that Lynette had done a great job of the friendly game with her, and she was naturally very light to steady pressure so her porcupine game was very good, but she did not know there was a difference between rhythmic motion and rhythmic pressure and so she was moving into my driving game! This initial session was about getting to grasps with each other and starting a relationship. I found she did not understand when I asked her to go up into a trot either. I was ready to start forming a plan for our time together. That night I was early to bed and sleeping very well!

Wednesday morning I was up and I hayed the horses before breakfast. Lynette watched over me as I did the feeds so that I would be able to do them for her when she went to work. After feeding and grooming all the horses we had a look at my treeless saddle which I had bought on Ebay. The equipedic pad looked awesome and we tacked up our horses and checked them out online before getting on. I was on Boaz, she was on Cookie. We both checked out our riding in the arena before heading out onto the trail. Lynette was more than happy to share her incredible terrain and beautiful landscape with me. It was real cowboy country and she explained how horse and rider needed to be prepared to go under the lowest trees, up and down the steepest slopes, through the most treacherous rocks and tree fall in order to get the cows. The more challenging the task the more fun I found it and Boaz was proving himself to be a steady and confident mount despite being only four years old! In the afternoon we explored the Wyoming and Montana border further by quadbike. Rick had me on the back and I could tell he was making an effort to not scare me too much until the end when he felt I had shown I was gutsy enough and he asked “shall we go for it?” Of course said “yes!” and got such a rush of adrenaline as we took off over the undulating road all the wheels of the bike leaving the ground momentarily and my belly being left behind as we landed and tore our way up the final path back to the workshop. After all that scenery and excitement I  went to retrieve hay which had been abandoned on the side of the road not too many miles from the ranch. Apparently Rick had seen a bale had fallen and exploded off of a truck and a tractor had come and simply tore it apart more and spread it out on the side of the road. As it was clearly not wanted, it would be going to waste and Lynette needed hay for the horses Rick, Beverly and Yeung had loaded a truck load and brought it to the Ranch. I went with Lynette, Beverly and Yeung to collect another two loads. I couldn’t help smiling in the knowledge that my Mum would have had me do exactly the same thing if she could! 

When we got back we had dinner and then I went out to visit Boaz and Jazzy. My plan was to take Jazzy to the arena but as I headed to her (massive massive) paddock in the dusk light I thought that taking her away from all other horses, in the dark, and playing in an arena with lights on which she had never yet experienced, and being a relative stranger to her might be too many new things to be conducive to a positive learning frame of mind. Instead I decided to see what we could do at liberty in the pasture. Soon I realised finding her would be enough of a challenge. I have never been anywhere where horses have so much space and Terrain (it really earns the capital T). It was getting dark as I was stumbling down the rocky hill and finally came across the boundary wire. I followed it around back up the hill, over some fallen logs and into a forest and back down the hill. I was wondering just how big the paddock really was and whether I had any hope of finding any horses when I heard a noise. I know that noise. It was horse. I walked in the direction and through the dim light I saw the back side of a dun horse grazing. I continued to walk toward her and she looked up and started walking determinedly away from me. I followed her knowing that if all I achieved was a bit of catching game and friendly attention it would still be a positive experience for her. It would be good for her to learn that people can come and be friendly in odd places at odd times. She headed toward Tigger who was the only other horse nearby. He was much more left brained and came over to me to see what I was bout. He was busy stealing cookies from me and eating my carrot stick when Jazzy decided to come near. Maybe she was missing out on something good. When I turned to give Jazzy attention Tigger began eating my ponytail. He enjoyed every bit of attention I gave him. Before long I was able to rub them both all over, feeding them a few treats before I turned away and headed toward home. They both followed me all the way to the main gate and watched me leave with interest. I was hopeful I had made a good impression on that sweet sceptical little filly.

Thursday morning was a change to the routine. Beverly and Yeung were leaving for home and Lynette had an appointment in town. Town was two hours away. We all went out as I wanted to experience some of America whilst I was there. We went around a tack shop which had its own museum , browsed JC  Penneys, had lunch and then headed to Walmart. I was going to buy a few disposable cameras because I had not brought a camera with me but I found a $20 kids digital camera (Avengers!). I am sure the picture quality will be pretty bad but I will be able to take more pictures and to put them on Facebook. By the time we got back to the house I had time to play with one horse before dinner. Jazzy came straight over to me so I haltered her and we began playing with having her understand the driving game. It did not take too long for her to realise the difference between me approaching her hindquarters with intention or a neutral energy but her front end was a different storey and she showed how bracey she can be. We did friendly game with the rope around her legs, which she was still afraid of after her roping experiences, and with me jumping around near her. I’d like to be able to lay my weight across her and maybe sit up on her before I leave so I need her to be calm about these things. We managed to get a few steps of trot and she made a lot of effort to find answers so I was very pleased with our session. After dinner I played online with Boaz. He was much more connected with me and I played the circling game on the lasso rather than the 22 ft line which made a positive difference. By the end of our session we were doing stick to me at liberty, walk , trot, canter and back up back to the pasture and he stayed with me as I put him back into his herd. I was feeling great and optimistic about our time in Colorado together. I went back to the main house to share my happiness with Lynette and she showed me the great work she had done to fix the stirrup bars of my saddle so that the leathers would not keep popping off as they had been doing.

Friday Lynette had to work the postal round so I fed and checked all the horses in the morning, trimmed Jazzy’s feet (I think maybe it was the first time they’ve been done but I need to check that with Lynette) and then took Boaz out on a trail ride alone. As I was about to leave Rick told me that Parelli had called and would call again at 1pm so I decided to keep fairly close to the boundary of the land I knew and not go too deep into the 7,000 acre ranch. We had our first canter outside and he was not so forward, it felt like riding a bunny rabbit. He was better when I asked him to go for it along a wide long, long open path. My stirrups held up to the challenge and we soon found ourselves at a large field of Alfalfa up by the ranch owner’s house. I had Boaz canter across it and earn a nibble on the other side. Then we followed the fence line which took us past a dead dear and through some questionable terrain before regaining the main pathway back to the front of the property. As I neared the main gate Boaz began to lean on my leg and question my leadership. I corrected him consistently and when he realised left and right doors were closed he picked up his forward march and we headed away from home across the driveway toward the water trough on the other side. I decided to have him reach the trough in a direct line by crossing the ditch rather than going back on ourselves to use the easy slope. Water was overflowing from the trough and had made a small stream running down the hill and along the ditch. This caught Boaz’ attention and for the first time her didn’t simply go. He tried to turn away from the ditch but I kept him straight and prepared myself for whatever he might do. Usually a young or inexperienced horse will cat leap such an obstacle out of lack of confidence. However, once he realised I was serious, he made a nice economic leap over the ditch and trotted on up to the water trough for a drink, the scary stream already forgotten. We followed the driveway back into the yard and I put Boaz away just as the wind suddenly picked up. The air turned cold immediately and I felt moisture in the air. A storm was coming in. I wondered whether to put ay out for the horses but they were nowhere to be seen and the wind blasted me again and I knew I would be throwing hay all over the place against the wind for no reason. I headed for the main house and saw Lynette drive up. I joined her and Rick and they were discussing what needed to be done to protect the hay and other property from the elements. I offered my help and soon we were shutting barn doors and pulling tarps over the hay. Soon we were indoors sheltered from the rain outside. We were happy to have the rain though, as the hay fields and alfalfa needed it. Every now and then there would be a break in the rain and just as I would wonder about going out and resuming horseplay the rain would come down harder, even turning to hail at one point. Then suddenly, as fast as it had arrived the storm blew away again. I headed out with Lynette through the big boy herd pasture to find the horses we wanted to ride that afternoon. I was to ride Gunnie, a blue roan who is blind in one eye. It took us the best part of an hour to find the horses and get them in. We brushed them, as they had all rolled in the wet dust, tacked them up, had a short pre-flight check and got on. I checked out my steering, my woah and go and off we went. Gunnie was like riding a cob. He was happy to mooch along behind Dag and Cookie (who was accompanying us at liberty) and was a perfect gentleman with me. He’s a really nice horse and I can see why Lynette is considering choosing him as her levels horse. I would consider him for the externship but I can see his one blind eye creating some issues, and Boaz has increasingly won me over.

After dinner I again went out with Jazzy. This time we went into the arena in order to work a little on her concentrating on me away from her herd. I allowed the others to come into the area but not into the arena and we began using the touch it pattern in order to give purpose to our driving game. She caught on very quickly and rocket through “nose, neck, maybe the feet”. She gave me more trot and was quicker to settle down to my jumping around and throwing the ropes around her legs. She now has the friendly and porcupine game, a fair driving game and yoyo, and the start of a circling game. A few more days and i think she’ll have the full seven games going.

Today I rode out with Lynette and she showed me more paths. We had a small canter together and I jumped Boaz over some logs. Well over one, the rest he just took in his trot stride as they were not worth the effort of jumping... He is such a cool little man, I have no doubt we will have fun together. We might not be able to do everything the others can do on the externship but we will learn a lot, and he will make sure I learn what I need to!

This afternoon we went into Gillette and I picked up a pair of Ariat short riding boots for $15 from the Back to the Rack shop. I then picked up a cheap but good little external CD/DVD player for my computer so I can install my digital camera software and watch Parelli DVDs in my room. It felt like I was on a spending spree but I am proud of the thriftiness of my purchases. We then headed to the airport and waited for Shirley’s plane. Shirley is another extern who is leasing a horse from Lynette and will be sharing the guest house with me. I was looking forward to meeting her but she never arrived! We realised she had not been on her flight and as we headed back home Lynette got an email from her saying that she had been held up by customs and they made her miss her connecting flight. She now had to spend two nights in Denver! I really feel for her, it was the exact situation I was dreading for myself on my way here and it also happened to both of the girls who came here last year. It is not so uncommon. When I had been in customs I had asked one of the officers if I should worry that I would miss my flight and her response was “no you can just get the next one, everyone is in the same situation”. They really don’t care. I understand security but I don’t understand treating people like crap when you know that the vast majority are legitimate and have jumped through hoops to satisfy regulations and blue tape and have a very real reason to be in the country. At least Shirley is now in the USA and will be with us on Monday.

So we have just one week before we head to Colorado and I begin the much anticipated Externship. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit nervous but I have definitely turned a corner and will make sure that I have fun and learn all I can and what outcome I get I trust will be the outcome I deserve. Whatever it is my life is on a great track. I am missing Paris, my family and of course Will. I know Paris would love to explore this countryside with me and I wonder what he would think of the wild turkeys, dear, antelope and elk that roam around here. I have also seen porcupines already. Wyoming really is an awesome state!

And now for a bit of gushiness: As  much as I miss Paris I know that he is in good hands, probably enjoying a break from me and I will come back a better human for him. Years ago I realised that I wanted to love someone more than I loved my horse. As you can imagine that’s a tall order. Well I have achieved it, I really do miss Will even more than Paris! We have managed a couple of Skype conversations but the seven hour time difference is proving a pain in the butt, and, rude as I feel for doing it, I can’t help but keep pulling my lap top out at every opportunity in the home he might be online. I am having a great time, but when all us externs say goodbye I imagine I will not be among the saddest to be going home!

So... The next instalment will be soon, and shorter I promise! Regular updates is my goal for the Externship!